One of many projects I’ve worked on while my blog has sat here silent was an automatic solution for feeding our cats while we are away from the house. My initial research on different available products had some interesting findings: There are generally two kinds:
- Well-made (often US-made) full-featured, IOT (internet connected) with cameras etc… for a LOT of money ($150+++).
- Kinda sketched out by an internet-connected device that has a camera etc… and I don’t know what it’s security posture is
- Not interested in paying a ton of money
- Really not interested in something that requires a third party service that might shut down and turn the thing into a dud (See PetNet https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/07/petnet-charges-new-30-annual-fee-for-a-service-that-still-doesnt-work/ )
- Cheap, questionable quality imports. $40 or less sometimes
- 100% of the reviews I read on these read something like this: “Worked great for X days, then stopped working at all, my pets starved”
- The overall vibe I got from all of the reviews I saw was that the standup designs (like what I got) were definitely superior and lasted a long while, but the electronics on them were flaky and unreliable
So, to tackle this dilemma I felt I had two options: Spend way more than I was comfortable with on something that skeeves me out, or spend what I was comfortable with to get something that’s nearly guaranteed to break after the first use. However, if I got the cheap one, I could probably replace the logic board with a Raspberry Pi and most likely the physical device (motors, sensors, etc…) would be just fine, if the thing didn’t work as expected.
I ordered it, set it up, and let it do its thing
https://github.com/ShadowZero3000/petfeeder
